Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke. His latest book is The Fix: How addiction is taking over your world. He also writes about classical music for The Spectator.

Ethnic minorities

Very few members of Britain's ethnic minorities wear poppies, according to Peter Whittle, the head of the New Culture Forum, a new think tank that challenges the liberal consensus in society and the arts.

Remembrance Day should be for everyone in Britain

And the reason they don't wear them is precisely because of this consensus. The race relations industry discourages minorities from marking Remembrance Day on the grounds that it represents an oppressive "majority culture".

Peter is a friend of mine and, as everyone who knows him will attest, a committed anti-racist. Even so, it's brave of him to make this point, in a press release that begins by attacking the Institute of Public Policy Research's appalling proposal to downgrade Christmas to avoid offending ethnic minorities.

Here are Peter's remarks about Remembrance Day in full. I agree with every word. If you agree too, then you should consider joining or supporting the New Culture Forum.

The wearing of poppies remains a simple and universal way in which the public can show their respect for those who gave their lives in the service of their country.

Of course, with their extraordinary inverted logic, the so-called 'peace' lobby tends to eschew such gestures. We've come to expect this. Poppy-wearing is least in evidence on university campuses, or among gatherings of the self-appointed citizens of the world. Last week, I spoke at a conference attended by those who would mostly characterise themselves as being on the liberal left. Among the hundreds of the apparently caring, concerned individuals there, I saw not a single one wearing a poppy.

However amongst the wider population, it is becoming increasingly clear how this simple piece of quiet national commemoration has fallen foul of the disastrous social fragmentation which the IPPR, with its statements on Christmas, seems intent on promoting.

In particular, it is noticeable with each passing year how few members of ethnic minorities wear poppies. This is hardly surprising when one considers how different groups have been encouraged by the liberal establishment to retain their own cultures at all costs. Remembrance Day is seen as a tradition of the majority culture, of little relevance to minorities, and thus not one to be unduly encouraged.

This is completely wrong. If Remembrance Day is to remain, as it should, part of our national annual life, then the background and meaning of it must be explained at the first opportunity to all people living in this country. It is very simple. The best way would be for all primary school children an increasing proportion of whom are from ethnic minorities to be issued with a free poppy which they should wear for a week up to Remembrance Sunday itself.

It should be fully and fairly explained to them what is behind this small gesture. The prejudices and bigotry of the educational establishment should not be allowed to intrude.